Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-10

headed subscription for the ped ,sth
Of Garibaldi's statue with Sl00 las
week. The Italians are doing on ia
morse carrying trade 10 this port, and
many Of the captains are owners as
well. and educated men. who take this
way Of seeing the world and accuml-
laiirg wealth at the same time. SAW
such one not long ago, who told me
.hnt be had not been in Italy for ten
years, trading all the time between LIS
Lon and New York.
TIeHT ROUGH on IRVING.
Literati have the reputation Of being
raieless in money matters, but what 1
am going to relate is surely more thln
,tat. When Irving left New York for
Tie provinces after his first visit he ask
I'd certain dramatist writer and hui
morist to write an original comedy for
hin. The latter accepted the idea aud
check for 81 500, Irving went away.
Ec waited for the original comedy. He
Is waiiing still. When the famous din
Der was given to him at Delmonico's
before he left for Europe tne dramatist
aas booked for q seat. and Irving
bored, at least, for an explanation. He
never put in an appearance. Poor
Irving is out play and $1,000.
FUNNY FACT.
A barrel Of punched tickets is sent
by the East River bridge trustees every
day to the junk dealers, who pay the
munifcent sum of half cent pound
ter them. With the great mass OF peo-
ple that cross the bridge the business OF
purchasing q ticket and depositing it in
The box is performed with the utmost
hOnchdlGncC but with Others the mat
The is one Of great barrassment, and
in their confusion and hurry they drop
into the box anything that happens to
he in their hands or pockets. Passen
gers for the cars frequently pour u
handful of coin down into the hopper
and put their tickets carefully away in
their pocket-books. The curio -book
contains all kinds OF cards visiting,
business, and postal. Theatre-tickets
and checks are abundant Turf-ticllets
also abound, with large sprinkling OF
railroad tickets. Staten Island, Jersey
City, Hoboken, East River, and East
Eoston ferry-tickets are plentiful.
Such articles as cigars, cigarettes,
preizels, toothpicks, kid gloves, and
penknives are not preserved.
About half the receipts of the bridge
are in bills. Five. ten, and twenty
dollar bills are very often presented,
and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES notes are by no
means uncommon. IL the ticket-sel-
Ter hosnt enough cash on hand to
make the change he is obliged to get
it, and he does get it, and he always
counts out ninety-nine dollars and
ninety. nine cents with great sstisfac-
ton. so far no one has presented a
thousand-dollar note, but the gate
keeper is Whiting for him to come along,
ond is ready for him. II is safe to say
that that man, when he gets his change,
will have more cents than he ever had
before.
THE EXIT or THE ECCENTRIC.
New York has lost all but one OF the
eccentric characters who used to give
variety to its street and help along the
,mrent tattle. In other times We had
Il I.ime-Kiln Man, with his lime-splt-
tered habiliments, whose name nobody
lnew. but who was perpetual subject
Of gossip, mystery, and romance. We
lad the Count Joannes, who, whether
playing tragedy to an uproarious audi
cnce, stalking in sombre state up
broadway, or haunting the newspaper
Offices, showed us that he was capa-
bic of something beside the barra-
Try for which he was driven ont
OF Boston. We had Andrew Jack
son Davis, the "Poughkeepsie Seer"
with black beard, inscrutable face, and
eyes that pierced through the magic
Mirror. We had Mrs. Tom-Ri-Jon,
with her coat OF many colors. fisnked
hy her two boys, Avengcr and Retalis-
ton. We had Ned. Buntline, bris.-
Ing and belligerent, ever fresh from
exploits which raised the hair Of
Dung America. We had the irascible
rolish nobleman Count Gurowski,
y hose single eye blazed behind the
cIeen goggles that decorated his
scaIred face, and who was more Of a
"steam engine in breeches" than
Taniel Webster was when in London.
We had the weazened wit Harry
Clapp, who looked like the statue OF
Noltaire in Paris. We had the Bloom
els in short gowns and trousers, al
ways very gay when not very gloomy.
GPEELY, WHITMAN, AND OTHERS.
We had Greeley in his white coat,
Walt. Whitman in his sailor garb, and
cid Burton in the smile OF his "Serions
lamily." We had thelong-haired men
and the short haired women, who are
row but q memory and phrase. We
iad Daniel Fratt, the penpatetic can
Cidate for President, Captain Rynders,
Of the Empire Club, frisky at fourscore,
ard Axe-handle Smith, who at last
became the butt OF a newspaper tor
mentor. And we had scores of lesser
cccentrics of narrower range who
helped to break the dull routine of the
Vulgar potato-patch. But the breed OF
| eccentrics has withered from the sod, and
the only survival of eccentricity in New
York is George Francis Train. The all
alike hosts and the sneering men have
driven ont the eccentrics and smeared
over this last touch of the picturesque.
4 great city is none the worse for a
shrinking OF such characters rs We call
cccentrics. in London and Paris there
aye rank specimens of the stock to be
see n or met here and there but in the
cities of Europe, also, there is blight
ing Of the eccentricity which, as we
cam from old caricaturists and come
dians, fourished hundred years ago.
There is in one of our New York libra
lics a costly quarto Of illustrations en-
titled Edinburgh Portraits" pub
lished in the reign of George Ill,
which compels you to believe that in
tie eighteenth century the ancient cap
iial of Scotland was a swarming circus
Of eccentrics.